Caitlin Brooks from the Gator Swim Club and Buchholz High School has verbally committed to the Kentucky Wildcats. Brooks is a high school junior and will swim her first college meets in the fall of 2019.

Brooks is primarily a backstroker, finishing 2nd in the 100 yard backstroke and 3rd in the 200 yard backstroke at the 2017 Winter Junior East Championships in Knoxville. She was even faster in the 100 back on a medley relay leadoff – she had the fastest backstroke split of the field in that race.

Brooks is also the three-time defending Florida High School 4A (big schools) state champion in the 100 back, having won state titles in each of her 3 high school seasons. She and her Buchholz teammates Kirschtine Balbuena, Julia Rodriguez, and Kaitlyn Cronin combined for a 1:42.34 in the 200 medley relay at the 2017 state meet, a win by 3 seconds, and a new state record.

Best times in yards:

50 back – 24.66

100 back – 52.51

200 back – 1:54.02

100 fly – 55.02

100 free – 52.80

The Buchholz team’s success has paralleled Brooks’: she and her teammates have won 3-straight 4A state championships and as a team broke 5 state records in 2017.

“I felt like Kentucky was a great fit for me!” Brooks said. “In addition to being an incredible academic institution, it has a strong swim program and an amazing team atmosphere!”

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About Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder of SwimSwam.com.
He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming.
Aside from his life on the InterWet, …